Month: August 2016

Imagine a busy morning at Oxford Road Station; whether it is meeting a loved one on the platform or on your busy commute to work, you don’t expect to hear a live piano being played at the train station!

Manchester Oxford Road has recently introduced a new addition to the station which is an upright piano for any member of the public to play. Manchester is a thriving city filled with excellent musicians with exceptional talents and the piano at Oxford Road station gives these musicians an opportunity to show the public their skills. Continue reading “Live Music at Oxford Road Station”

You have to be living under the rock if you haven’t heard about Pokemon Go! The recent app, involving everybodys favourite 90’s cartoon monstors has taken the world by storm, and doesn’t it just keep on growing. Pokemons now even taking the internet by storm in the world of digital piano!

A popular American musical group, known as “The Piano Guys“, have completed a feat which is up there with the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry – they’ve just racked up an impressive 1 billion views on YouTube.

Playing the right notes – The Piano Guys have racked up an impressive 1 billion hits on their YouTube Channel

Evolution of the digital piano starts way back in the 1980’s. They were use predominately, at the time, to aid touring musicians with the age old problems the acoustic piano offered: tuning, hammers, the usual problems. People still, however, feared they sounded too electronic. Skip forward 30 years or so, and technology has enabled them to come on in leaps and bounds since that decade…

modern and sleek, the Chase CDP-245– the evolution of the digital piano.

Back in February, the award-winning singer songwriter Adele had her performance at this years Grammys halted slightly, due to a technical hitch regarding her acoustic piano. Microphones inside the instrument had fallen, causing vibration sounds. Had she been using a digital piano, however, and this problem would be a thing of the past. As, of course, digital pianos do not require tuning before a show, nor do you have to mic it, or indeed run a risk of mics falling onto the strings.

The most significant improvement in the evolution of digital pianos is undoubtedly their ability to be able to mimic 3 dimensional sounds that are produced from acoustic pianos. Indeed, digital piano technology has advanced in such stages that more and more big touring acts are using them on their worldwide tours. The question many ask is how manufacturers actually worked out how to improve the sounds. And the answer is relatively simple. Digital pianos have gotten better mainly due to the fact that they have merged with traditional pianos. Thus, the hybrid approach, which, as stated, merges the traditions of an acoustic instrument with the innovation of digital technology.

Digital pianos for musicians on tour

Indeed, as aforementioned, many musicians even still favour the digital piano. Coldplay’s Chris Martin was shown earlier this year at the Superbowl in San Francisco playing a Kawai, and has been sported in the past with a timeless Yamaha upright.

Ironically, Lionel Richie, in his most recent tour, had a unique request. He had the shell of an old grand piano made, which he could then slide a digital piano into, thus, in a stadium of thousands, hopefully nobody would be able to tell the difference as the music blasted out of the PA system.

Indeed, as time moves on, many people and musicians don’t have the time, energy or money for old acoustic pianos. Digitals are small, cheaper and more convinient. And, as proven, they can now be seen as the new alternative to acoustic, and have revolutionsed digital music since their beginnings.

The year was 1938, and the second world war had yet to begin. A young, 16 year old Frieda Hart began as a teacher to give piano lessons to those around her, in her small mid west American town. 78 years later, at the ripe of age of 93, and she continues to do the same.

Still playing – 98 year old Frieda Hart is thought to be the worlds oldest piano teacher